Place Names (K) Kane Street - Kirkland

Kane Street, Renton

This thoroughfare, built as part of the 1960's redevelopment,
is called after Johnny Kane, a Communist County councillor for Renton from
the 1940's till his death in the late 1950's, and one of Renton's
great 20th century characters. It is a very small street for such a large personality.

Katherine
Place, Renton

This short thoroughfare in the New Cordale
Estate is named after the poetess, Katherine Drain, who was born in Burn
Street Renton in 1868, and died in 1904 aged 36. She was a well-known
poet in her day with her one volume of poems, Loch Lomond Rhymes, being
published in 1902.

Kelso Place, Renton

This short cul-de-sac leads off from the
east side of Cordale Avenue in the New Cordale Estate. It was built in
the 1990's and is named after Robert Kelso, a member of Renton
FC's World Championship team of 1888, who also won 8 caps for Scotland.

Kessog Gardens, Jamestown

This new small estate of private houses is
built on former Mill of Balloch land on the south side of Dalvait Road
before its junction with Main Street Jamestown. It is called after Saint
Kessog whose Loch Lomond connections saw the Roman Catholic Church at
Balloch being called after him, as is the primary school that is just
a few yards from the estate across Dalvait Road.

Kilmaronock Parish, Church
and Castle

Kilmaronock is the Parish immediately to
the north and east of Bonhill Parish. It starts just beyond Ballagan
at Boturich and ends at Drymen Bridge to the northeast, while to the
east it encloses Bonhill by having a common boundary with Dumbarton Parish,
southeast of the Pappert Hill.

Its name is Gaelic and means “cell
of little Ronan”. St Ronan, who died about 737, had a cell or small
chapel in the area in the 8th century, and even to-day St Ronan's
Well is in a wood close to the present day Parish church. There is an
entry for Kilmaronock in the Lochside Villages pages.

King Edward Street,
Alexandria

It is called after King Edward VII who was
on the throne in 1907 when the Street was laid out for workers in the
newly opened Argyll Motor Works, onto which the Street backs.

King Street, Renton

This is the west side of the old Renton Cross,
and dates back to the late 18th century and the foundation of the village
in 1762. The King referred to is therefore probably King George 3rd whose
reign started in 1760 and lasted until 1820, which is a good spread of
the early development years of the village.

Kipperoch, Dalmoak

This old track, beloved of generations of
Rentonians, runs from the south side of the bridge on Renton Road at
Dalmoak, over the hill to Cardross Road, very near to what is now the
Dumbarton town boundary. From there a track, now a road, took them on
to their ultimate destination, the Clyde shore and sands at Havoc for
a picnic, and hopefully, a swim.

The Kipperoch takes its name from an
ancient farm of various spellings over the centuries, and it shows in
the infamously muddy conditions of the Kipperoch, even at the height
of summer. It seemed a long way when walking it as a child, but it's
probably not much more than a mile.

Kirkburn, Bonhill

In the 19th century, this was the name for
the area immediately around Bonhill Parish Church

Kirkland Glen, and Works,
Bonhill

This Glen lay at the south end of Bonhill
and ran from the main road down to the River. The Hew Burn ran through
the Glen, but was tunnelled in about 1860 and the Glen levelled when
Sir Archibald Orr Ewing expanded Dillichip Works and required the land
for a new entrance and approach road. He also bought over and demolished
Kirkland Print Works, which operated from about 1820 to 1860, in an area
broadly where the Kirkland Lane housing estate now stands. The Glen and
Works gave the Lane its name, albeit about 130 years later.

In the summer
of 1911 the banks of the Leven at Kirkland had an unexpected visitor.
The new steamer, the Prince Edward, was being towed up the Leven to the
Loch in May 1911, when the level of the Leven fell unexpectedly, and
the steamer became stuck on the sandbank at Kirkland. In spite of Herculean
efforts, including building a dam, which almost swept away the nearby
Dillichip Bridge, the steamer had to tie up all summer at Kirkland, and
only November rains freed it to continue to the Loch.

Kirkland, Renton

This was the short-lived rename of Cordale
Housing Estate in Renton during the 1970's and 1980's, when
the Estate was substantially refurbished and redeveloped. It was named
after the long-serving and popular Vale GP, Dr John Kirk, who lived
in Renton for about 50 years. New street names appeared, such as Denny
Way (after the shipbuilding family in Dumbarton) and Graham View (after
Graham the Builder, an old Renton building family, whose company had
built parts of Cordale).

The well-intentioned attempt at revitalising
the estate was eventually judged to have been a failure. Much of the
estate was demolished, and the names Kirkland as well as Denny and Graham
were quietly dropped. The remaining housing was renamed Cordale. After
a rethink, and learning the lessons of the Kirkland failure, a new approach
to redeveloping the Cordale was decided on and the Cordale Housing Association
was created, so some good came out of Kirkland.

Kirkpatrick Crescent, Alexandria

This street is named after Rosie Kirkpatrick,
Labour County Councillor for Levenvale and Tullichewan for many years
from the 1930's to the 1960's. She lived in Lansbury Street
and represented the area in which a street is named after her. Rosie
was one of the first women to be elected to the Council not only in the
Vale, but also in Dunbartonshire.

"For those we loved are scattered,
and some in death sleep soun',
and the old oak tree sae bonnie,
has long since been cut doon".